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Nrrn S ra'rns ATENT thr n STEPHEN Il. EMMEUS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

CARTRIDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,823, dated March 5, 1889.

Application filed June 30, 1888. fierial No. 278,619. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN HENRY EM- MENS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain I and Ireland, and a resident of London, in England, temporarily residing at Harrison, in the State of New York, have invented a new and l useful Improvement in Front-Fire Cartridges, 1

ing object of which is to insure the combustion of the whole charge of gunpowder in a fire-arm before the projectile or projectiles leave the barrel, and thus to render the ammunition more efiicient. I

The present invention consists in a device which combines the functions of an anvil for effecting the explosion of the firing-cap or primer, an ignition-tube, a slow-match leading to the front end of the powder-charge, and a decapping-pin for removing the exploded primer, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings represents an axial section of an ordinary shotgun-cart-ridge provided with my said device. Fig. 2 represents a like view of a machine-gun cartridge similarly improved; and Figs. 3, 4:, 5, and 6 are sectional perspective views of the anvil ends of ignition-tubes, illustrating different modes of constructing the tube.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

I11 carrying this invention into effect I take any cartridge-shells, S, having their bases provided with external primer-recesses, r, and with flame-holes 72, leading therefrom into the charge-chamber. I enlarge the flame-hole of each if it be too small, or provide it with a hollow plug or bushing, b, Fig. 9, if it be unnecessarily large, and I then fit the same with an i mperforate tube, T, open at both ends, which extends longitudinally to near the front end of the powder-space. The rear end of the tube T projects within the primer-recess r and forms an anvil for an ordinary cap or primer, P, a shoulder or shoulders, s, on the tube near its rear extremity serving to prevent its displacement forward. The shoulder or shoulders 3 may be formed in various ways,

as illustrated by the drawings-for example, by providing the lube end with an external collar, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or by reducing the front portion of the tube, as represented in Fig. 4c, or by an upsetting operation, as illustrated by Fig. 5, or by expanding the rear end of the tube, as illustrated by Fig. 6. The method of forming the shoulder or shoulders forms no part of my invention.

The tube T is filled with gunpowder,whicl1 ignites when the primer P is exploded and causes a sheet of flame to issue into the front portion of the main charge which surrounds the tube, as shown in Figs. 1 or 2. By suitably granulating and compressing the charge in the ignition-tube an appreciable time may be caused to elapse between the ex-. plosion of the primer and that of the main charge, so that the disturbing eifect of the pull on the trigger shall. cease before the discharge takes place.

The tube T is removable rearwardly, and other decapping apparatus is thus dispensed with, as the tube itself maybe used to remove No. 314,127, granted to IV. Hope and R. S.

Ripley, an igniting-cartridge within the main cartridge is described, and that it is stated in 'the specification forming part of said Hope and Ripley patentthat cartridges have been proposed wherein a simple perforated igniting-tube is arranged to extend through the powder-chamber, and a small charge of fulminate to be exploded by percussion is arranged in a shallow recess in the rear of the cartridge-shells. I do not, therefore, broadly claim an ignition-tube within the main charge of a cartridge.

My improved device is notsimply an ignition-tube, but possesses other valuable functions, as hereinbefore set forth.

I am also aware that a primer-cap with a tubular extension by which to remove it from the exploded cartridge is old, and that an vil-tubes have been combined with cartridges without adaptation to contain an ignitioncharge or to serve as decappers. ith my de vice I throw away only the exploded primer or cap proper, and my combined front-fire tube and anvil constitutes also the decapper, and

is adapted by its open extremities to contain.

an ignition-charge, so as to provide for insuring and regulating the explosion of the eartridge, as aforesaid.

Having thus described my said improve- 5 ment in front-fire cartridges, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specifiezttion V In combination with a fire-arm cz-trtridge and its primer, the shell of the cartridge havin g an external primer-recess and a flame-hole in its base, a combined ignition-tube and decapper consisting of a rearwardly-reinovaljfle inlperforatc tube, fully open at both ends, litted to said flame-hole, extending to the front of the main charge, with its rear end projecting as an anvil within said recess and provided with a shoulder or shoulders to prevent its displacement forward, substantially as hereinbcfore specified.

,I'lEPHEN ll. EMMEXS.

\Vitnesses:

SAMUEL B. HAMBURG, HUGH HENRY. 

